‘She’s Not in My Head or in My Body’: Developing Identities of Exclusion and Inclusion in Whole-Class Discussions (original) (raw)
Related papers
Learning And The Learner: A Critical Overview
Abstract Learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organised, specifically human psychological function-Vygotsky(1978,p-90) The educational system at the UG Level stands walled in by the constraints of a theory based examination system,. paucity of skilled facilitators, skewed teacher –learner ratio and a classroom filled with a variegation of individuals and individualities. Given the limitations of such a context, it becomes a matter of grave conjecture if objectives such as development of communicative competence or outcome based learning become a mere cosmetic enterprise. Superadded to this is the issue of pragmatic encumbrances faced by the teacher in terms of transforming a classroom into a constructive and productive language room-an issue that compounded at the UG level given the extent of differences found within the learning atmosphere and the time bound semester system which gives the teacher little or no time to juggle curricular and pan-curricular activities. Matters get compounded when the content of the text book gets tangentially different from the culture of the average learner .The politics of power subtly and in a very innocuous manner steals its way into the curriculum, level of transaction and the classroom culture-ultimately influencing the quality and level of learning and having a determinable effect on the learners ability of imbibing the skills of social interaction and developing personal communicative competence. Keywords: Educational constraints ,Communicative competence, classroom culture
2010
ECHO School was created as a place where Every Child Has Options. Conceived by a group of parents and one teacher who wanted to continue a constructivist model they had previously valued in a public magnet school that was forced to discontinue its program, ECHO was designed to support a multi-age population of students (K-12). These children, who were diverse in academic abilities, interest, educational needs and socioeconomic backgrounds were taught in a modern day "one room schoolhouse" via a gifted model to encourage independent and critical thinking in students without dependence on textbooks or scripted lessons. The nonprofit program, which lasted four years, built a curriculum of individual goals and objectives based on the Alabama Course of Study and incorporated a wide range of technology to differentiate instruction for the students. As a result of individualized planning, students were able to become autonomous learners and creative thinkers, while at the same time working collaboratively with the group to teach and learn from one another. There was no beginning or end to their scholarship; because there was no ceiling, they could reach for the stars. This study utilizes narrative inquiry to explain how the stakeholders of ECHO experienced teaching and learning in a context that met the needs of diverse learners. iii DEDICATION I wish to dedicate this dissertation to my husband, Mike and my son, Matt. I have finished the degrees; it should be all "Easy Street" from here on out. Thank you for your love, encouragement, and unending support through this lifelong process. I love and appreciate you both. Also, to my Mom, Clint and Denise, Nicole and Tommy, my three Grandgirls-Bella, Sydney and Abby, my brother, Mike and sisters, Kathy and Sean and my sweet Gracie; you all inspire me to teach. Thank you and I love you. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Yes, it definitely takes a village. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the members of my village who have so graciously done their individual and unique parts to help me through this dissertation process. You might think I was a star for the number of cheerleaders I have had along the way. From my first teachers, my Mom, my Grandma, and my third grade teacher who inspired me to be the best teacher-just like them. To my friends who have encouraged me and pushed me to go back to school and finish my journey with a PhD, Kaye Ridgeway and Martha Hocutt I thank you. To Jen and Toni, thank you for helping me hold my house together through the past three years. I could not have done it without you. And to Rebecca Ballard, you are awesome. Thank you for all your help. In addition, and of utmost importance, I wish to thank my professors, friends and colleagues. Each member of my dissertation committee has been implemental in a very special way to the final product and the process along the way. Dr. Liza Wilson mentored, encouraged, and involved me in higher education, as I was a teacher to her son, David. As special as she is, she has always treated me as an equal and made me feel like I belonged to her circle of academia. Dr. Vivian Wright set the example of the perfect student/professor, mentor and cheerleader. No matter how difficult the travail, there was always a big smile at the end. To professor extraordinaire, Dr. Nirmala Erevelles, thank you for pushing me harder than anyone else ever did. I know that I grew the most in my attitudes toward equity and social justice in education because of you. Dr. Catharina de Wet, you are a gifted teacher of the gifted. Thank you for making my project yours and leading me outside of my box, helping me to discover what v it was I needed to say. And finally, but certainly, not least, Dr. Aaron Kuntz, thank you for being my non-traditional mentor. When I took your Qualitative Research class and you mentioned a dissertation of poetry, I knew I could never even think about doing a boring old academic dissertation. Thank you to my mentors, Dr. Cynthia Sunal who taught me as much in my graduate assistantship as I learned in all of my courses and Dr. Ali Iran-Nejad, with whom I have studied Authentic Learning from the beginning in 1995 all the way to the end in 2010. And to my friends, Lynn and Kathie, who told me I could do it and even the one who said I'd never get it done (and you know who you are): I made it! To these people, all my friends, and loved ones whose names I have omitted because of space and time, thank you. I couldn't have done it without every single one of you. And finally, I wish to thank those great minds that went before me and beside me. You are "mah heroes." vi CONTENTS
Expanding Conceptualizations for the Study of Learning
Front Learning Research
The background and need for this special issue This special issue is dedicated to expanding conceptualizations for the study of learning in contemporary education. Ongoing social changes in the private, public, and economic spheres create new and various demands for learning and education. As the articles of this special issue propose, reasoning, critical thinking, imagination, and managing emotions in dealing with controversial issues have become increasingly important learning requirements in the pursuit of interests toward learning across diverse settings. Also, the way in which people learn to take part in such practices in contemporary contexts, both in formal education and everyday life, are shifting. For instance, novel kinds of digital tools create continuously evolving spaces for learning that transform social interactions and learning practices across contexts and time (Ritella, Ligorio, & Hakkarainen, 2016). Overall, ongoing changes in society, and the learning requirements they entail, challenge research communities to reconsider how to understand and advance learning in diverse settings. It is also increasingly recognised that there is a need to apply and further develop conceptual and methodological frameworks that are able to account for the complexity of learning in contemporary societal conditions (Kumpulainen & Erstad, 2016). The five articles included here address several important and under-researched topics in contemporary learning and education. Each article also proposes and elaborates on potential conceptual frameworks for expanding conceptualizations for the study of learning in the 21st century. Before introducing the articles, we will describe the impetus for the publication of the special issue. After that we describe each of the contributions including their specific research topics and conceptual frameworks. We then outline and discuss some cross-cutting themes emerging from our reading of the articles and conclude by pointing out some key arguments made by the commentators to further the ongoing dialogue and research in the field.
educationUndergraduate: Journal of undergraduate research in education (Volume 3)
2008
Edited by Claire Taylor, Richard Woolley, Karl Aubrey, Jean Wickham, Judith Harris, Rachael Burnett and Marcus Elliott. Contents: What are Teacher's and Pupil's Persepctives on the Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages as an Embedded Subject? by Sarah Joyce; Strategies to Support Pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders Learn Names and Identify Others By Name by Karen Fixter; An Exploration of the Factors within Primary Schools that Affect the Time Allocated to Physical Education by Philip Davies; An Exploration of Fine Motor Skills Activities to Improve Pencil Grip by Caterina Scott; Investigating the Relationship Between the Use of Puppets for Teaching and Pupil Attention and Participation by Laura Rusling.